Mike’s 300 gallon In-Wall Tank and Fish Room Build

PotomacReef

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Yes each circuit is on its own GFCI circuit. The two GFCI plugs at the start of each branch are on the sink/water reservoir wall for easy reset. (I have a love/hate relationship with GFCI, but safety first I suppose...)

I haven’t had the brain power to make final decisions on the electrical side of things yet. I plan on running an apex with two energy bars, each on its own circuit. There will be several MP40s and or MP60s.

Still debating the lighting. I want SPS dominant and I want to go all LEDs but the 72x36 footprint is a tough one to work out from a coverage perspective. I’m leaning towards 6 Radion XR15s Gen5s. But worried it may not be enough. May go with 6 XR30s but that’s a big price jump from the XR15s.

You’re in Northern VA also? Awesome! What’s your favorite LFS?

Yeah electrical always changes too because it's so easy to move plugs. I think the plan is good. I usually split up different life sustaining elements between circuits so if you lose a circuit to a breaker trip and you're not near the tank it wont crash your tank. For example if you have 2 main circulation tanks I'd put one on the L breaker and one on the R breaker. Same thing with powerheads inside the tank. Half would be on the L circuit, half on the R circuit. Believe me, with GFCIs especially you never know when one will trip, and if you're out of the house for 8-12 hours you could crash your tank because you didn't have flow or whatever because they were all on that one GFCI circuit!

As for lighting, I find that most LEDs are too powerful and don't need to be run at full power anyway. I like to supplement them with T5s anyway for diffused light, so I'd be more inclined to do 6 XR15s with T5s retrofits on either side. Or T5's in the center and the LEDs "spotlighting" in at a diagonal to reduce shadowing.

Yep, NoVA. I like Reef eScape the best for fish. They are higher priced but I've never had any fish show up with any illness or parasites. They make it a point to QT fish and will definitely challenge you if you try to do something stupid stocking wise.

For coral, I usually buy on WAMAS or online. But I've been known to buy some colonies and frags from different stores in the area. Blue ribbon koi, Reef eScape or Fintastics of Frederick, MD all have a good and generally healthy coral selection.
 
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Mike Jenkins

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Yeah electrical always changes too because it's so easy to move plugs. I think the plan is good. I usually split up different life sustaining elements between circuits so if you lose a circuit to a breaker trip and you're not near the tank it wont crash your tank. For example if you have 2 main circulation tanks I'd put one on the L breaker and one on the R breaker. Same thing with powerheads inside the tank. Half would be on the L circuit, half on the R circuit. Believe me, with GFCIs especially you never know when one will trip, and if you're out of the house for 8-12 hours you could crash your tank because you didn't have flow or whatever because they were all on that one GFCI circuit!

As for lighting, I find that most LEDs are too powerful and don't need to be run at full power anyway. I like to supplement them with T5s anyway for diffused light, so I'd be more inclined to do 6 XR15s with T5s retrofits on either side. Or T5's in the center and the LEDs "spotlighting" in at a diagonal to reduce shadowing.

Yep, NoVA. I like Reef eScape the best for fish. They are higher priced but I've never had any fish show up with any illness or parasites. They make it a point to QT fish and will definitely challenge you if you try to do something stupid stocking wise.

For coral, I usually buy on WAMAS or online. But I've been known to buy some colonies and frags from different stores in the area. Blue ribbon koi, Reef eScape or Fintastics of Frederick, MD all have a good and generally healthy coral selection.
Yeah electrical always ch

As for lighting, I find that most LEDs are too powerful and don't need to be run at full power anyway. I like to supplement them with T5s anyway for diffused light, so I'd be more inclined to do 6 XR15s with T5s retrofits on either side. Or T5's in the center and the LEDs "spotlighting" in at a diagonal to reduce shadowing.

Yep, NoVA. I like Reef eScape the best for fish. They are higher priced but I've never had any fish show up with any illness or parasites. They make it a point to QT fish and will definitely challenge you if you try to do something stupid stocking wise.

For coral, I usually buy on WAMAS or online. But I've been known to buy some colonies and frags from different stores in the area. Blue ribbon koi, Reef eScape or Fintastics of Frederick, MD all have a good and generally healthy coral selection.

Thanks for all the great info! I like the idea of running T5s in the middle and the XR15s towards front and rear angled slightly. I hadn’t thought of this option. Hopefully someday I will have colonies large enough that shadowing becomes a concern and this sounds like a great solution!

I will definitely check out those LFS as some of them I was not aware of. I also need to check out WAMAS.
 

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Pro level fishroom build. Jealous of that sink

I had to go budget conscious because we have 2 smalls under 4 and only 1 income after a relocation left my unemployed. I love the tile floor and the size of the tank

Great work, subscribing
 

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Pro level fishroom build. Jealous of that sink

I had to go budget conscious because we have 2 smalls under 4 and only 1 income after a relocation left my unemployed. I love the tile floor and the size of the tank

Great work, subscribing
It is crazy cool isn’t it? I am sooo green. I am trying to talk my husband into helping make mine more finished. So sofar we are working on our bedroom and bathroom! Not my fishroom! Pouty face!
 
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Mike Jenkins

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Time for an update! Progress has slowed since March, but I managed to build and finish the stand and canopy and finish up all the trim/caulking/paint.

I also cut back the carpet a few feet and installed some LVP flooring.

I added a divider in the base of the stand to cut down on any noise from the sump on the show side. It leaves me about 18” of depth to work with. I’ve got plans for a pullout step stool on each side to help me access the tank and allow the little ones to see in.

Still just tap water in there for now. Next major hurdle is rock work. After seeing Ryan at BRS’s tank, I can’t bring myself to just stack rock. So, I’m going to attempt the “negative space aquascaping”. CA glue, accelerator, mortar, and sand for the project is on order and I hope to get started on it this coming weekend.

I’m still debating lighting. Now I’m leaning towards 3-36” aquatic life T5 hybrid fixtures with 6 Radion XR15s.

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Mike Jenkins

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Still making progress, slowly.

After seeing Ryan at BRS aquascaping and watching his Facebook series on negative space aquascaping I knew I had to do this for my tank. A month later and a couple hundred dollars in superglues, mortar, and sand these are the final results. Close to being ready for saltwater; making the RO water now.
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Victoria M

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Looks awesome! One thought to add regarding the negative space. I speak from experience with this. :) I have had to add rock to my tank. Not enough caves, nooks and crannies creates insecurity in the fish. They will fight viciously over a preferred spot. I had beautiful arches and wide open space for fish to swim. But not enough crevices to shelter in.
adding more rock and placing them closer to other structures created little crevices for fish to hide in. And helped create a little more harmony.
 
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Mike Jenkins

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I think I have finally decided on a final design for the control boards. There will be a total of 6 control boards. (The 6th board, not shown, will be on the perpendicular wall next to the RODI system and will house my 24" touchscreen monitor and minipc.) The board in the lower right will have a deep shelf on the bottom to house the Trident or any other additional equipment that may be added in the future. I won't have this many pumps and modules initially but this leaves plenty of room for further expansion (hopefully). Now to start building!

Control Board.jpg
 
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Mike Jenkins

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Your tank looks great. I was wondering why two 80w sterilizers? I have one for my 300-gallon tank.
I will be running one with low flow for fish pests and the other one with high flow for algae. I stole the idea from Ryan at BRS’s 360 build. I was going to do 2 50w but I found the 80s on sale so I figured why not.
 

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Gorgeous build. We have very similar setups, mine is the same dimensions other than I went 30 tall. Also have a stupid HVAC duct above it to deal with. I did mine peninsula style as my 'fish room' is also my office so i wanted it viewable from both rooms.
 
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Mike Jenkins

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I ordered that same sink for my fish room. I like the side workstation area. Nice work!!
The sink is very handy, but you have to keep the saltwater rinsed off really well because it will develop surface rust quickly. Some fine steel wool cleans it up nicely though.
 
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Mike Jenkins

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Gorgeous build. We have very similar setups, mine is the same dimensions other than I went 30 tall. Also have a stupid HVAC duct above it to deal with. I did mine peninsula style as my 'fish room' is also my office so i wanted it viewable from both rooms.
Cool, I’ll definitely check out your build thread!
 
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